Faux Amish Kid

[reneethomas]

Yeah I bought my boys some Amish cloths to do some period photographs. Today was just a test shoot. I have to learn to my camera vertical! I swear it is so darn unnatural but then I download my pictures kicking myself!!

http://siriusimagery.com/images/IMG_5006.jpg

http://siriusimagery.com/images/IMG_5013.jpg

[jgrussell]

#2 is very cute. I like the smile in #1 but the missing feet detract from the shot. Somehow the absence of the feet doesn't bother me as much in #2.

[zombieball]

Perhaps a little fill flash and bring down the bg exposure as well :)

[reneethomas]

Perhaps a little fill flash and bring down the bg exposure as well :)

Can you explain how to do this? I was using fill flash but I would love to know how not to have the background so bright. Thanks for your help!

[TheHoff]

Can you explain how to do this? I was using fill flash but I would love to know how not to have the background so bright. Thanks for your help!

The easiest way to do this is to switch to M on the camera. Take a few test shots, with the flash off, until you get the background exposed correctly (or a bit dark if that is what you want).

Now, with the camera in M and the exposure set, turn the flash on. You can use a manual mode on the flash as well if you want to choose the power or you can turn it to E-TTL mode. If your flash is external you can then adjust the flash exposure compensation up or down but I don't think you can do this on the built-in pop-ups.

So the key here is to put the camera in M so it knows how you want the background to be exposed and then let the flash "fill" in the foreground for the correct exposure there.

[reneethomas]

The easiest way to do this is to switch to M on the camera. Take a few test shots, with the flash off, until you get the background exposed correctly (or a bit dark if that is what you want).

Now, with the camera in M and the exposure set, turn the flash on. You can use a manual mode on the flash as well if you want to choose the power or you can turn it to E-TTL mode. If your flash is external you can then adjust the flash exposure compensation up or down but I don't think you can do this on the built-in pop-ups.

So the key here is to put the camera in M so it knows how you want the background to be exposed and then let the flash "fill" in the foreground for the correct exposure there.

Okay here is the orignal shot with only resizing done.

http://siriusimagery.com/images/IMG_5006raw.jpg

Here is the exif information:

Manual
TV 1/80
AV 16.0
ISO 200
White Balance Flash

Canon Speedlite 430EX
E-TTL compensation +2/3

[reneethomas]

BTW how do people get the exif info to show up in the viewer? I edit my pictures in Photoshop.

[TheHoff]

Great, you're almost there already... So with this shot it looks like the E-TTL was not working well for you. The background grass is properly exposed but the flash is not putting out enough light to equalize.

The first thing that would help is to go to your maximum shutter sync speed -- that is 1/200 I'd guess? So change the exposure to 1/200 and f/7.1. Now the flash only has put out enough light to match 7.1 and not f/16. Big difference for your flash power and recycle speed there.

If you can't get the foreground bright enough by pushing up the exposure compensation then put the flash in M as well. It will take a bit more chimping (or a flash meter) but then you won't be depending on the E-TTL auto mode to determine the flash fill.

(Since the fill was underpowered in the original, you're having to push up the entire image and making the bkg too bright.)

[TheHoff]

Photoshop Save for the Web deletes the EXIF. (New version has a checkbox to leave it in) You can Save a Copy as a JPG instead.

[reneethomas]

Great, you're almost there already... So with this shot it looks like the E-TTL was not working well for you. The background grass is properly exposed but the flash is not putting out enough light to equalize.

The first thing that would help is to go to your maximum shutter sync speed -- that is 1/200 I'd guess? So change the exposure to 1/200 and f/7.1. Now the flash only has put out enough light to match 7.1 and not f/16. Big difference for your flash power and recycle speed there.

If you can't get the foreground bright enough by pushing up the exposure compensation then put the flash in M as well. It will take a bit more chimping (or a flash meter) but then you won't be depending on the E-TTL auto mode to determine the flash fill.

(Since the fill was underpowered in the original, you're having to push up the entire image and making the bkg too bright.)

Thanks so much for all the help. I am going out again today to try again!! :mrgreen: